Longitudinal evaluation, acceptability and long-term retention of knowledge on a horizontally integrated organic and functional systems course

Undergraduate medical education is moving from traditional disciplinary basic science courses into more integrated curricula. Integration models based on organ systems originated in the 1950s, but few longitudinal studies have evaluated their effectiveness. This article outlines the development and implementation of the Organic and Functional Systems (OFS) courses at the University of Minho in Portugal, using evidence collected over 10 years. It describes the organization of content, student academic performance and acceptability of the courses, the evaluation of preparedness for future courses and the retention of knowledge on basic sciences. Students consistently rated the OFS courses highly. Physician tutors in subsequent clinical attachments considered that students were appropriately prepared. Performance in the International Foundations of Medicine examination of a self-selected sample of students revealed similar performances in basic science items after the last OFS course and 4 years later, at the moment of graduation. In conclusion, the organizational and pedagogical approaches of the OFS courses achieve high acceptability by students and result in positive outcomes in terms of preparedness for subsequent training and long-term retention of basic science knowledge

Accuracy and repeatability of wrist joint angles in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system

© 2019, The Author(s). The hand-wrist region is reported as the most common injury site in boxing. Boxers are at risk due to the amount of wrist motions when impacting training equipment or their opponents, yet we know relatively little about these motions. This paper describes a new method for quantifying wrist motion in boxing using an electromagnetic tracking system. Surrogate testing procedure utilising a polyamide hand and forearm shape, and in vivo testing procedure utilising 29 elite boxers, were used to assess the accuracy and repeatability of the system. 2D kinematic analysis was used to calculate wrist angles using photogrammetry, whilst the data from the electromagnetic tracking system was processed with visual 3D software. The electromagnetic tracking system agreed with the video-based system (paired t tests) in both the surrogate ( 0.9). In the punch testing, for both repeated jab and hook shots, the electromagnetic tracking system showed good reliability (ICCs > 0.8) and substantial reliability (ICCs > 0.6) for flexion–extension and radial-ulnar deviation angles, respectively. The results indicate that wrist kinematics during punching activities can be measured using an electromagnetic tracking system

A precision study of the fine tuning in the DiracNMSSM

Recently the DiracNMSSM has been proposed as a possible solution to reduce the fine tuning in supersymmetry. We determine the degree of fine tuning needed in the DiracNMSSM with and without non-universal gaugino masses and compare it with the fine tuning in the GNMSSM. To apply reasonable cuts on the allowed parameter regions we perform a precise calculation of the Higgs mass. In addition, we include the limits from direct SUSY searches and dark matter abundance. We find that both models are comparable in terms of fine tuning, with the minimal fine tuning in the GNMSSM slightly smaller.Comment: 20 pages + appendices, 10 figure

Leaf-applied sodium chloride promotes cadmium accumulation in durum wheat grain

Cadmium (Cd) accumulation in durum wheat grain is a growing concern. Among the factors affecting Cd accumulation in plants, soil chloride (Cl) concentration plays a critical role. The effect of leaf NaCl application on grain Cd was studied in greenhouse-grown durum wheat (Triticum turgidum L. durum, cv. Balcali-2000) by immersing (10 s) intact flag leaves into Cd and/or NaCl-containing solutions for 14 times during heading and dough stages. Immersing flag leaves in solutions containing increasing amount of Cd resulted in substantial increases in grain Cd concentration. Adding NaCl alone or in combination with the Cd-containing immersion solution promoted accumulation of Cd in the grains, by up to 41%. In contrast, Zn concentrations of grains were not affected or even decreased by the NaCl treatments. This is likely due to the effect of Cl complexing Cd and reducing positive charge on the metal ion, an effect that is much smaller for Zn. Charge reduction or removal (CdCl2 0 species) would increase the diffusivity/lipophilicity of Cd and enhance its capability to penetrate the leaf epidermis and across membranes. Of even more significance to human health was the ability of Cl alone to penetrate leaf tissue and mobilize and enhance shoot Cd transfer to grains, yet reducing or not affecting Zn transfer

A new purple sulfur bacterium from saline littoral sediments, Thiorhodotvibrio winogradskyi gen. nov. and sp. nov.

Two strains of a new purple sulfur bacterium were isolated in pure culture from the littoral sediment of a saline lake (Mahoney Lake, Canada) and a marine microbial mat from the North Sea island of Mellum, respectively. Single cells were vibrioid-to spirilloid-shaped and motile by means of single polar flagella. Intracellular photosynthetic membranes were of the vesicular type. As photosynthetic pigments, bacteriochlorophyll a and the carotenoids lycopene, rhodopin, anhydrorhodovibrin, rhodovibrin and spirilloxanthin were present. Hydrogen sulfide and elemental sulfur were used under anoxic conditions for phototrophic growth. In addition one strain (06511) used thiosulfate. Carbon dioxide, acetate and pyruvate were utilized by both strains as carbon sources. Depending on the strain propionate, succinate, fumarate, malate, tartrate, malonate, glycerol or peptone may additionally serve as carbon sources in the light. Optimum growth rates were obtained at pH 7.2, 33 °C, 50 mol m-2 s-1 intensity of daylight fluorescent tubes and a salinity of 2.2–3.2% NaCl. During growth on sulfide, up to ten small sulfur globules were formed inside the cells. The strains grew microaerophilic in the dark and exhibited high specific respiration rates. No vitamins were required for growth. The DNA base composition was 61.0–62.4 mol% G+C. The newly isolated bacterium belongs to the family chromatiaceae and is described as a member of a new genus and species, Thiorhodovibrio winogradskyi gen. nov. and sp. nov. with the type strain SSP1, DSM No. 6702

The intestinal expulsion of the roundworm Ascaris suum is associated with eosinophils, intra-epithelial T cells and decreased intestinal transit time

Ascaris lumbricoides remains the most common endoparasite in humans, yet there is still very little information available about the immunological principles of protection, especially those directed against larval stages. Due to the natural host-parasite relationship, pigs infected with A. suum make an excellent model to study the mechanisms of protection against this nematode. In pigs, a self-cure reaction eliminates most larvae from the small intestine between 14 and 21 days post infection. In this study, we investigated the mucosal immune response leading to the expulsion of A. suum and the contribution of the hepato-tracheal migration. Self-cure was independent of previous passage through the liver or lungs, as infection with lung stage larvae did not impair self-cure. When animals were infected with 14-day-old intestinal larvae, the larvae were being driven distally in the small intestine around 7 days post infection but by 18 days post infection they re-inhabited the proximal part of the small intestine, indicating that more developed larvae can counter the expulsion mechanism. Self-cure was consistently associated with eosinophilia and intra-epithelial T cells in the jejunum. Furthermore, we identified increased gut movement as a possible mechanism of self-cure as the small intestinal transit time was markedly decreased at the time of expulsion of the worms. Taken together, these results shed new light on the mechanisms of self-cure that occur during A. suum infections

Evaluating Depressive Symptoms in Schizophrenia: A Psychometric Comparison of the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale

Background: The aim of this study was to compare two measures of depression in patients with schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorder, including patients with delusional and schizoaffective disorder, to conclude implications for their application. Sampling and Methods: A total of 278 patients were assessed using the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17). The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was also applied. At admission and discharge, a principal component analysis was performed with each depression scale. The two depression rating scales were furthermore compared using correlation and regression analyses. Results: Three factors were revealed for the CDSS and HAMD-17 factor component analysis. A very similar item loading was found for the CDSS at admission and discharge, whereas results of the loadings of the HAMD-17 items were less stable. The first two factors of the CDSS revealed correlations with positive, negative and general psychopathology. In contrast, multiple significant correlations were found for the HAMD-17 factors and the PANSS sub-scores. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that the HAMD-17 accounted more for the positive and negative symptom domains than the CDSS. Conclusions:The present results suggest that compared to the HAMD-17, the CDSS is a more specific instrument to measure depressive symptoms in schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorder, especially in acutely ill patients. Copyright (c) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

The Effective Fragment Molecular Orbital Method for Fragments Connected by Covalent Bonds

We extend the effective fragment molecular orbital method (EFMO) into treating fragments connected by covalent bonds. The accuracy of EFMO is compared to FMO and conventional ab initio electronic structure methods for polypeptides including proteins. Errors in energy for RHF and MP2 are within 2 kcal/mol for neutral polypeptides and 6 kcal/mol for charged polypeptides similar to FMO but obtained two to five times faster. For proteins, the errors are also within a few kcal/mol of the FMO results. We developed both the RHF and MP2 gradient for EFMO. Compared to ab initio, the EFMO optimized structures had an RMSD of 0.40 and 0.44 {\AA} for RHF and MP2, respectively.Comment: Revised manuscrip

Sprint interval and sprint continuous training increases circulating CD34+ cells and cardio-respiratory fitness in young healthy women

The improvement of vascular health in the exercising limb can be attained by sprint interval training (SIT). However, the effects on systemic vascular function and on circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) which may contribute to endothelial repair have not been investigated. Additionally, a comparison between SIT and sprint continuous training (SCT) which is less time committing has not been made

Pre-cooling for endurance exercise performance in the heat: a systematic review.

PMCID: PMC3568721The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/166. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Endurance exercise capacity diminishes under hot environmental conditions. Time to exhaustion can be increased by lowering body temperature prior to exercise (pre-cooling). This systematic literature review synthesizes the current findings of the effects of pre-cooling on endurance exercise performance, providing guidance for clinical practice and further research